Intratympanic and systemic dexamethasone for Ménière's disease.

Intratympanic and systemic dexamethasone treatment of Ménière's disease (MD) was evaluated in a prospective study. Seventeen patients (6 men and 11 women) with MD (5 right-sided, 11 left-sided and 1 bilateral) were treated with three 0.2- to 0.4-ml injections of intratympanic dexamethasone hyaluronate (16 mg/ml) during a week and with an initial intramuscular dexamethasone injection of 15 mg. Most of patients were in stage 3, and the mean duration of MD was 5. 3 years. Pure-tone and speech audiometry and the symptom scale of the patients were followed up for 1 year after the treatment. Symptoms of aural fullness, hearing loss, tinnitus and vertigo did not improve significantly. However, sufficient control of vertigo was achieved in 76% of the patients. In conclusion, no definite treatment effect has yet been shown for intratympanic and systemic dexamethasone treatment. Therefore, the clinical use of dexamethasone in MD needs further investigation.